BlackBerry Torch 9850 review (Verizon)

RIM didn’t envision creating a touch device. Yet here we are in 2011 with the company abandoning it’s prior failed attempts at making a touch-only smartphone, and instead copying the competition instead of innovating. The BlackBerry Torch 9850 is a no-frills touch phone. There’s no SurePress display, thankfully — just a regular capacitive screen. The device features a 1.2GHz CPU, a 5-megapixel camera, 4GB of built-in storage, and more. Does it stand a chance at competing with the iPhone and Android devices, though? Read on for my review.

The design of the Torch 9850 could have been incredible, but RIM counters most of its sleek styling with noise and distractions. For instance, the front of the device is this one big beautiful black slab that runs from the top of the smartphone all the way to the bottom. It’s like this sheet of touch sensitivity has been perfectly stretched over this awesomely-designed facade with symmetrical curves on both the top and bottom… but it gets interrupted by these hideous hardware buttons that look completely out of place. To compound matters, the buttons don’t perform very well at all. It was a last minute hardware change as the phone originally sported integrated BlackBerry keys much like all of RIM’s recent releases, and that would have been great if RIM was able to stick with that slick design.

The side and back of the device get worse and worse design and styling-wise. On the sides, RIM chose to use such a massive, gaudy, plastic chrome-look bezel, that the only physical buttons it could fit are these tiny, almost paper thin buttons that offer little tactile feedback. To make matters worse, RIM crammed not one or two, but three of these onto the right side of the phone — volume up, mute and volume down. Below those you’ll find a dual-stage dedicated camera button for the auto-focus camera. On the left side of the phone there’s a lone microUSB port.

Switching over to the back of the device, the industrial design that was too good to be true is again spoiled by poor color choices, worse material choices, and hardware placement. The battery cover cut out is reminiscent of previous BlackBerry Storm battery doors (anything having to do with the BlackBerry Storm should be wiped clean, and RIM shouldn’t sell that phone anymore) and it interrupts the styling of what could have been a really smooth phone for the touch world. There are no charging contacts on the Torch 9850 so those awesome charging cradles won’t work, though RIM sells one you plug the phone into when it’s in landscape.

As far as touch goes on RIM’s first all-touch device (remember, I refuse to acknowledge the BlackBerry Storm since it has a SurelyPressed the wrong button screen), it’s pretty horrible. Let’s start with the physical screen itself.

First off, there’s no oleophobic coating on here, so grease and fingerprints get picked up very easily and it’s pretty difficult to wipe off. But worse than that is the material RIM used for the display; it feels completely different than the screen on the BlackBerry 9900. This screen feels like cheap plastic and it doesn’t allow your fingers to glide over its surface smoothly… at least not like other touch devices such as the iPhone 4 or Motorola DROID BIONIC, both of which use Gorilla Glass (Apple is rumored to). It’s another example of how RIM’s poor R&D management and foresight have affected not just the types of products it makes, but their quality as well.

I do like the integrated lock / unlock button on top of the device, though.

Software

Oh boy. The good thing about this section is that the OS isn’t vastly different from previous BlackBerry operating systems. In fact, not much has changed at all in terms of significant user-facing elements. That means it’s a frustrating experience all around. The Torch 9850 sports an outdated OS, the worst App ecosystem and selection, mind-numbing quirks and issues, all on a platform that was not ever made to be used on a touch screen.

Nothing makes sense at all. Why is there a mouse cursor on an all-touch device in the web browser? It’s the equivalent of shipping a stylus. Why can’t I successfully use an Exchange account without having a BlackBerry Enterprise Server? Why can’t I sync my Google account in addition to my Exchange account once I use a BlackBerry Enterprise Server? Here’s another example of something that irritates me: on smart smartphone platforms, when you’re erasing text, the speed at which your text will delete will start off slow and then speed up faster and faster since the system knows you’re erasing more than a few characters. This doesn’t happen on the BlackBerry Torch 9850, and it’s just one of a hundred little things that combine to form a user experience that really isn’t competitive at all.

Keyboard

This is an all-touch device, and as such, so a touch keyboard is your only method of inputting text. It better be damn good, right? Well, the keyboard on the BlackBerry Torch 9850 is probably the worst touch keyboard I think I have ever used. I actually think the keyboard on the Storm was better than this.

In portrait mode, forget about it. It’s useless. Combined with RIM’s horrible auto text correction and suggestions, in addition to the look and feel off the keyboard, it’s just not a winner. “Haha” becomes “Bags”, “thats” doesn’t replace with “that’s”, and so on. And as far as the design, it makes no sense. On such a cramped layout, why would you waste space adding two shift keys — one on either side of the keyboard — just to do it? Why is there a dedicated comma key and period key? The worst is part is that the keyboard only has two layout configurations that I have found; one for the standard layout, and one for the web browser. As an example, typing in the “to:” field of an email is apparently the same as typing a message to a BlackBerry Messenger contact — the keyboard key placement doesn’t change as it would on other platforms to make commonly used keys more readily available in each scenario.

Phone / Battery

I like the phone app on the Torch 9850 a lot, especially when lightly customized. Having it open right to the dial-pad is fantastic, and I love the layout of the dial-pad, too. It’s huge and almost monolithic. There are only three soft tabs here: the dial-pad, call log and contacts. I’m not going to dive deep into the phone app as it will upset me and ruin one of the only things I like about the BlackBerry 9850.

Battery life on the 9850 seemed quite good, though I didn’t talk much on the phone. Instead, I used it for emailing, BlackBerry Messenger, some web browsing and calendar functions. The phone easily could power through a day of this type of usage, and like most BlackBerry smartphones, the standby time is absolutely ridiculous.

Conclusion

Look, the tech-minded among us get caught up with raw specifications all the time, but the fact is, the experience is what sells to the general consumer and to most people. RIM doesn’t only miss the mark on both counts with the BlackBerry Torch 9850, the company demonstrates once again that it has no idea where the mark is or where it will be in the future.

It’s well chronicled how and why RIM has failed to stay competitive in the smartphone market, but what’s so shocking is that the BlackBerry Torch 9850 is basically little more than a Storm 9550 without the SurePress screen, which is nothing more than a lame, misguided attempt at trying to compete with Apple.

The reason I’m being so harsh, and the reason my views on the BlackBerry 9850 are so different than the BlackBerry Bold 9900 (which I loved), is because these are two different arenas. The Bold 9900 is what a BlackBerry is about. The Torch 9850 is a device RIM did not ever envision making, and it is manufactured to compete directly with the number one and number two touch smartphone platforms in the world. It doesn’t compete. It feels like a feature phone compared to the BIONIC and iPhone.

If for some reason I was forced to either use RIM’s BlackBerry Torch 9850 or the first-generation iPhone as my daily phone, there’s no question what I would choose: the iPhone. Don’t forget that Apple’s first smartphone received iOS 2.0, one that brought the App Store, Microsoft Exchange support, and many more features that RIM still can’t compete with from several years ago.

If you’re a BlackBerry fan with Verizon who just has to have an all touch device, the $200 BlackBerry Torch 9850 is obviously your only choice but it’s a pretty terrible one. Do yourself a favor: duct tape your busted old Curve back together and hold out for the BlackBerry Colt.

I remember I used to sit around defending blackberry all day , get upset with articles like this. I remember reading all these negative reviews on the og storm, I got it anyway , then turned around and got the storm 2. thats when I realized , it was the same damn phone . Just packaged differently . Took that back and got the OG Droid.

I’ve had 5 blackberries , all of which I thought were the shit . The droid made me think , ” why was I so hung up on blackberry” since the droid , I’ve owned the droid incredible , thunderbolt , and droid charge .

All the things that I thought I would lose in blackberry was right there in android , but better . The whole push email thing was there , didn’t need bbm anymore. The threaded text blew that out of the water. calendars are much better , I can go all day with this .

The one thing that I can say was a little better was the battery life , I doubt there will ever be a smart phone that beat rim at this .

BBut if that’s it , that’s a trade off i can deal with.

Anonymous

Ha, you bought a Storm and then a Storm2, LMAO

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QQHWHA4PZIOHE72BVZPEYSWT6M Danny

Mr. Geller, you haven’t even explored any of the software in your article. Such as the browser which i tested against the Iphone 4 and easily beats it. The added track pad made a world of a difference in browsing.

JOHN

Love this phone! Coming from an iPhone 4, I have no problems!

Anonymous

Gotta tell you – he’s right. I’ve been a lifelong BB user. Loyal until now. Rim’s latest offerings (save the new bold) just aren’t competitive. I switched to a Samsung Galaxy S2. Now there’s a phone. I wanted to like the 9850. I reaaally wanted to like it, but it just isn’t up to snuff. It’s zero surprise why Rim is losing domestic market share (yeah, yeah, emerging markets, yeah.)

Sure, I’m hoping that QNX will breathe some life into what little Rim stock I have left. Man, it better be a home run. If it’s not, Rim is in even deeper shit.

Having said all that, nobody does emails and messaging as well as Rim. For that, they’re still tops.

Trini-34

Wow is this an Apple site??? I am a BB-user and after testing the 9850 and the 9930 have to say, these are the best BB by far… Not sure why people are being so hard on RIM (as if their moms got caught playing with herself with a BB in her hand). Dude it is not that serious; buy the phone if you like it and don’t if you do not like it…simple has that. I am not a fan of the I-Maxi-Pads or their phones but I will not bash their hard work and tell someone don’t buy because it is rubbish. Let’s lay off RIM and use the KISS factor (Keep It Simple STUPID)…

Ski08

As an enterprise user and locked into a Blackberry this phone Rocks compared to the 8330 that i was using until today. the only thing that it is truly missing is a front facing camera. I don’t understand why people are hating on it. The screen is bright the touch screen feels the same as an iphone (when a screen protector is used. I love the buttons and track pad that let you quickly edit and send documents. There is plenty of room on the 16gb sd card that comes with it for all of my work documents, i now feel like i have my office in the palm of my hand. I do wish that the app store was better but that is just the way that the cookie crumbles. All in all i think that it is a huge improvement from my last blackberry and is a solid phone.

Lelouch84

Boy Gay Report you are about as smart as a door knob

Gloma

Phone is a dream. Men among boys. Incomparable.

Anonymous

To say BGR hate blackberries they sure do take the time to play with them…

PhoneGeek

Seriously when will BGR start adding a disclaimer to all their reviews that says:

“We here at BGR are dedicated Apple fanboys and Blackberry haters. We really don’t understand what Blackberry users like or want, we’re simply dedicated to pumping up Apple devices that have not shown serious innovation since the original iPhone.”

You guys really should get a grip…

Anonymous

This was a bullshit review i love blackberries but if your going to put a phone on verizon at least make it 4G LTE jesus

Jon

Love the unbiased (lol) review here from BGR. Same hate-on as usual. If you read this review, go try the device for yourself and ignore reviews from BGR. Smartphones are a personal preference. I love RIM and blackberry devices. Choose what you feel is best for what you need.

Bamedele

I am just reseaching the Torch 9850. The review sounds like it was written by a disgruntled author. I may be wrong but thats how it comes to me from the reading. Sorry.

Xolani

For the record there is a cursor in the OS because the optical trackpad mimics as a mouse with the click functionality. Sheesh! Why do these people write reviews about devices they have hardly tested? It is not the most beautiful BB but untrue statements shall not be tolerated.

finetoothcomb

This guy is he freaking serios? This is a smartPHONE and you say you didn’t test talk-time, signal, call quality etc? Then you assert standby time is ridiculous. You moan that the phone section does everything in that tab without delving for ‘an app’? This phone (running OS7) is like a Storm (running OS5) without surepress? Are you freaking serious? RIM is not doing well but this is about the most irresponsible regurgitation of stereotypical opinions from someone claiming to be a ‘techie’ as presented as a review I’ve ever seen. I had been warned about this site but nothing beats seeing for yourself.

Steppydanl

there is just no way a bb could be as bad as this article posits… almost seems bought, they (other cell phone manufacturer) pay u to write this bro? seriously im all for a critique but at least be realistic! smh

Anonymous

The Torch 9810 is excellent, pretty harsh review but maybe this OS doesn’t work without a keyboard.